Furniture glide



y 12, 1959 w. E. NORDMARK ET AL I 2,885,719

FURNITURE GLIDE Filed Aug. 19, 1957 INVENTORS Bali-er E. Nordmat'li Jme R. Shore WITNESS Mazw-J ATTORNEY United States Patent FURNITURE GLIDE Walter E. Nordmark and James R. Shore, Grand Rapids, Mich., assignors to American Seating Company, Grand Rapids, Mich., a corporation of New Jersey Application August 19, 1957, Serial No. 678,784

1 Claim. (Cl. 16-42) The present invention relates to furniture glides and more particularly to glides for tubular metal furniture legs.

The primary objects of the invention are to provide a glide which, when installed on the lower end of the fumiture leg, is self-aligning, i.e. which will rest fiat on the floor regardless of the pitch of the furniture leg and even if the article of furniture be tilted; to provide such a glide which consists of only four parts which may be very quickly assembled to each other and to the furniture leg; and in general to provide such a glide which is eflicient in use, reasonably economical in manufacture and attractive in appearance.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a central vertical sectional view of the lower end of a vertically disposed tapered tubular metal furniture leg having the new glide installed thereon;

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view thereof taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the same taken on line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a sectional view similar to Figure 1 and showing the new glide applied to a furniture leg having a pitch of about 70; and

Figure 5 is a perspective view showing the several parts of the glide per se in disassembled relation.

Referring now in detail to this drawing, the new fumiture glide consists essentially of four parts: a floor-contacting base 10, a pair of socket members 11, 12 and a retaining washer 13. The base and socket members 11, 12 are desirably made of molded plastic as indicated in the drawing and may thus be any desired color, but these parts may be made of metal or other suitable material if preferred. The base 10 has a round, fiat, floorcontacting bottom surface, and has a centrally located and upwardly extending ball 14 molded integrally therewith. The socket members 11, 12 have complementary hemispherical cavities 15, 16 and have upwardlly extending stem portions 17, 18 provided with complementary shoulders 19, 20 and complementary grooves 21, 22.

The socket members 11, 12 are assembled to the base 10 by fitting their cavities 15, 16 to opposite sides of the ball 14, these hemispherical cavities 15, 16 thus forming a socket for the reception and retention of the ball. The retaining washer 13 is next seated in the annular 2,885,719 Patented May 12, 1959 ICC groove formed by the complementary grooves 21, 22 in the socket members 11, 12, said washer 13 being provided with a void 23 (see Figures 2 and 5) to facilitate this assembly operation. Prior to assembly of the glide to the tubular furniture leg 24, the several parts are held together by this retaining washer.

The glide is finally assembled to the tubular furniture leg 24 by inserting its stem, formed by the stem portions 17, 18 of the socket members 11, 12 into the open lower end of the leg 24 until the lower end of the leg abuts the annular shoulder formed by the complementary shoulders 19, 20 on the socket members 11, 12, and the socket members are thus securely clamped together by the extreme lower end of the leg 24 which encircles the stem of the glide adjacent said annular shoulder.

The periphery of the retaining washer 13 isprovided with spaced prongs 25 thereon, which grip the internal wall of the tubular leg 24 to securely maintain all of the parts in assembly and prevent withdrawal of the glide from the tubular leg.

It will thus be seen that the invention provides a novel glide for a tubular furniture leg, which requires no rivets, screws or other such fastenings for securing the various parts of the glide together, and which is quickly and easily installed on the tubular leg. While but one specific embodiment of the invention has been herein shown and described it will be understood that numerous details thereof may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the following claim.

We claim:

A glide for a tubular metal furniture leg, comprising: a base having a round, floor-contacting bottom surface and an upwardly extending, centrally disposed ball; a pair of socket members having complementary hemispherical cavities together forming a socket for the reception and retention of said ball, said socket members having grooved and shouldered upwardly extending stem portions together forming a stem having an upper annular groove and a lower annular shoulder; a peripherally pronged retaining washer having a void extending from its center opening through a portion of its side wall where-' by the washer may he slid into the upper annular groove of said stem into a position concentric with the stem, and said stem and washer being adapted for insertion into the open lower end of said tubular furniture leg with the lower end of the leg resting on said shoulder, with the socket members clamped together around the ball, and with the peripheral prongs on said washer biting into the internal walls of the tubular furniture leg to secure the glide in assembly with said leg.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 61,282 Torrey Jan. 15, 1867 679,468 Pratt July 30, 1901 2,666,943 Kramcsak Jan. 26, 1954 2,748,419 Kramcsak June 5, 1956 

